Her Glass Walls
by Lovely White Violets
Summary: An early morning exchange with Beast Boy puts Raven in touch with emotions she should not have. Very Slight RavenBB.


Title: Her Glass Walls

Pairing: Implied Raven/Beast Boy

Rating: G

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. Cartoon Network does, I believe, as do DC Comics (thanks to all the people noticed my mistake in the first version of this story).

Author notes: This was just something that came to me while I was writing a term paper. I shouldn't have written it, but it wanted to be written so here it is. For those of you who don't know much about the character, Raven is the purple, dark, goth character whose powers are fueled by her emotions so she has to keep them under tabs at all times to prevent her powers from accidentally blowing things up. If you want to know more about Raven's parents and past, read the spoiler below between the asterisks. If you don't want anything to be revealed, skip to the part past the double lines of asterisks.

Minor Spoiler Alert to Those who are New to Teen Titans

For those of you who may not know much about the characters, Raven is the darker, goth character whose powers are fueled by her emotions. She's the daughter of a demon named Trigon, and he imparted a piece of himself inside her so that whenever her emotions get out of control, her anger and consequently her "demon" side come out. I haven't read the comic books or watched much of the show so I'm not sure how destructive Raven is, but I've read in a few places she has the power to destroy the world if her powers get out of hand.

Raven woke early.

She had risen before the sun and most definitely before the rest of her fellow Titans, and as she padded softly down the halls past her sleeping companions into the kitchen area, she looked forward to the idea of the early morning silence and of being alone.

It would be perfect.

"Morning, Raven!"

Maybe not so perfect.

Beast Boy flashed her a toothy smile, and turned back to his current activities—reading a recipe book while failing to see his hearty tofu waffles breakfast burn on the skillet next to him. Raven coughed, and he noticed the small flame fortunately before it turned into a bonfire and waved it off with a towel.

"Eh...we didn't need those anyway." Beast Boy said, tossing the towels into the trash. Raven shook her head, as the trashcan interrupted into flames ignited by the towels. Beast boy quickly disconnected the extendable faucet head from the sink and sprayed water into the receptacle. He sagged in relief against the sink. "That was a close call."

She nodded, at a loss for what to say.

It wasn't very often she saw Beast Boy, and it wasn't very often she saw him alone without the outgoing, golden-haired Terra at his side, laughing in rejoinder to his jokes and telling jokes herself to provoke the same response from him. Raven was so unlike Terra that she didn't really know how to act around him anymore.

Raven tried to think of a joke to tell Beast Boy, to get him to laugh with her, but all she managed to say was, "It's a good thing you didn't burn the whole Tower down, Beast Boy" in her usual monotone.

To her credit, Beast Boy did crack a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes, and she suddenly felt very empty and small.

"It could've been worse, though..." Beast Boy replied. "...I could have burned the waffles, and Cyborg wouldn't be able to have any."

They both acknowledged the inside joke: Cyborg would never in a million years be upset over not having Beast Boy's "food"...if tofu could be called food. Beast Boy grinned at her. And, maybe it was the moment or maybe it was because Beast Boy's smile did reach his eyes this time or maybe it was because it was just Beast Boy, but...

Even though they tried their hardest to resist, facial muscles she hadn't used in awhile bunched together, and she smiled back.

And she relished the smile, allowing even Beast Boy to bask in it. He was slightly surprised, and remained smiling because of his apparent victory over her.

"I told you I could get you to smile at my jokes." Beast Boy laughed, pointing at her.

_I've smiled before_. Raven thought. _Because of you_.

Her smile grew broader.

"At this rate, I might even make you laugh."

"...I wouldn't push it, Beast Boy." Raven replied.

And, the smile faded; the moment was gone.

Beast Boy shrugged and turned back to his cooking as if nothing monumental had happened, while Raven turned back to the book she had been about to read and placed her CD player's headphones on her head, feeling slightly out of sorts and suddenly wishing for a moment like before, a moment where in one instance, she shared a very small part of herself with someone else...

It wasn't long, though, before everyone joined them in the common room—Robin, then Starfire, then Cyborg, then Terra. They became a loud, chaotic mass of jokes and laughter. Cyborg was not very happy to see Beast Boy's waffles, and began to cook a batch of his own "real" ones as he liked to proclaim them. Robin shrugged, perfectly happy to eat any waffles at all, and Starfire, being the Tamaranean she was, began to make a mustard syrup for her portion of the waffles. Terra and Beast Boy sat at one end of the table together, Beast Boy trying to eat whatever he could salvage from Terra, who was fighting with him over the waffles.

Behind them, Raven pulled her tome closer to her as if she could shield their noise and chaos away from her quiet self.

It seemed she was always watching from the other side of a clear wall, and no matter how much she tried, the strong, emotionless, mental wall she had built to keep her emotions in check—her lonely prison—never allowed her to go past the wall, never allowed her to become a part of another world...until today, until that one moment.

_It is for the best that it'll only happen once_, she thought even though her heart was breaking. _I can't share my darkness with anybody. I can't share my emotions. I'm protecting them from myself.._

And so, she walled herself behind her rough demeanor...

...behind her books and her costume...

...behind her music and behind her headphones...

...And she tuned out the world, trying to forget it existed...

...While still seeing clearly what was going on.

* * *

A/N: A little melodramatic, but it will work.

Thank you for reading. I really want to shape and improve my writing style, so PLEASE REVIEW (or feel free to email me: ) and give any comments, suggestions, criticisms, or ideas that you may have for me. Your help is invaluable to me.

All I ask is that it be a respectful review and not a flame. Not to say that I won't welcome constructive criticism, but there is a difference between reviewing and story-bashing.


End file.
